1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical switch which can be used in an optical communication system.
2. Description of the Background Art
An optical switch for use in an optical communication system is disclosed in “4×4 MATRIX SWITCH BASED ON MEMS SWITCHES AND INTEGRATED WAVEGUIDES,” The 11th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors and Actuators, Munich, Germany, Jun. 10–14, 2001. The optical switch described in this literature consists of a planar waveguide device chip having four input ports and four output ports and a switch chip having 16 micro mirrors to reflect light incident from the input ports to the output ports.
In this optical switch, the length of optical waveguide from the input port to the output port differs depending on the course of light, and optical loss (waveguide loss) increases according to the increase in the length of optical waveguide. Thus, the waveguide loss in the shortest distance of the optical waveguide differs from that in the longest one.